We’re Moving Downtown! – Part 1 (the purpose)

We’re Moving Downtown!

Countdown to Downtown – Part 1 – The Purpose

I’ve always been up for a good adventure. My best growing-up memories are of family RV vacations. My parents placed a lot of value on shared experiences, and for us, that meant 7, 8 or sometimes 10 people in an RV, traveling snow-packed roads to ski destinations in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado. It was GREAT fun.

Later, Mike and I made friends with another newlywed couple at church, and we all experienced our first tent-camping / river-rafting adventure with them. We loved it! We made it with our borrowed gear and soggy hot dogs for one whole night, then packed up and spent the night in a hotel the second night. What memories we made on that trip!

The water was so cold!

Until now, I’ve been just a little hesitant to talk about my adventurous life. Or maybe just a little careful HOW I talk about it. Here’s why. My dad was a wanderer. A free spirit. A hard-worker who had a hard time working anywhere for very long. That’s a very difficult way to raise two children, and my mom just couldn’t hang. My parents divorced, my mom stabilized our upbringing, and all was good. But my dad went on wandering until the day he died – outside his travel trailer parked on land belonging to a generous acquaintance.

So, in an effort not to repeat the failures of our predecessors, we sometimes make an effort to squelch the parts of our personalities that identify. That’s what I mean by being careful how I talk about adventure in my own life. I don’t want to be seen as that kind of apple that didn’t fall far from that tree. I have my dad’s sense of adventure, but I have never wanted to be a wanderer. I mean, wandering in the wilderness was God’s discipline for His people, for crying out loud. Wandering from the truth is warned against in the Bible. Wandering is not the way to anywhere. These are actually hard words to read if you know a wanderer.

But exploring – that’s a totally different thing.

Explorers are transparent and willing. Wanderers hide and are reluctant. Wandering leads down the path of the lonely. Exploring leads up the path of the purposeful. God warns against our wandering and welcomes our exploration. He gave Solomon “wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore,” and Solomon used that wisdom to “study and explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens.” It’s faith in God that switches the whole thought process FROM wandering to exploring. What a cool thought.

So, I’ve come to appreciate the difference between wandering and exploring. I’m no longer hesitant to talk about my adventures. In fact, sharing them and encouraging others to do the same is the whole purpose of my blog.

Intentional adventure is completely set apart from aimless wandering, and that’s what my mom and amazing stepdad gave my siblings and me on those RV vacations, and it’s what’s taking Mike and me….DOWNTOWN!

The countdown to downtown is on, and I would love for you to enjoy it with us!

Check back, or sign up to receive my emails, and stay tuned for next week’s Countdown to Downtown – Part 2 (the packing). In the meantime, if you see a little aimless wandering in yourself, and your heart is yearning for a little exploration with purpose, check out this Austin-based website. http://www.exploregod.com/ I’d love to hear where your exploration leads you.

Hi, there! My name is Brenda McDearmon, and I love to encourage people! I created this blog to help overfiftyers look beyond the transitions into a future of everyday adventure so they can focus on themselves a little, and on every other good thing in life a lot. I'm so glad you're here!